LINKS

F. Beyond Mug Shots: Other Methods of Criminal Identification in the 19th C

Although
mug shots were helpful in aiding police with criminal identification,
alone they could not definitely prove someone’s identity. At the
end of the 19th century, two important systems of identification
emerged which law enforcers hoped would be capable of proving
identity beyond a shadow of a doubt: fingerprinting and the Bertillon
method. These techniques not only had a profound effect on the future
of criminal identification, but also influenced the history of mug
shots.

Of
course these were not the only methods of criminal identification
that were explored during the nineteenth century. Click on the links
below to explore some of the techniques beyond mug shots that were
experimented with: